Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 56

COLUMN The (Way) Back Beat

both pegheads, shaped fingerboard inlays, and
decorative pearl designs in both pegheads at
$86.25. Not long after, the monarch of all harp
guitars was added - the fantastic Style 8. This
was decked out with binding everywhere, an
abalone trimmed top, a spectacular tree-of-life
pearl fingerboard inlay, very elaborate pegheads
and fancy tuners. This very rare instrument is
generally considered the most desirable of all
harp guitars.
These prices were reasonable for the time; in
1908, Martin's Style 45 was $110 to $120. The
Gibson Style U carved-top harp guitar listed at
$140 - imposing to look at, but to most ears not
in the same league. The 1907 Dyers were shown
with five sub-bass strings tuned diatonically
down from the low E - D, C, B, A, G. This was
soon expanded to six sub-basses. Many small
variations exist. Circa 1908, Dyer added the
compact Style 3. Likely an attempt to offer a
lower-priced/student version of the Symphony
Harp, this short-scale guitar had a unique point
on its lower bout, was made in small numbers,
and owed a lot to some of Chris Knutsen's morerecent developments... or perhaps he copied a
Larson design this time!
While Dyer harp guitars are by no means
common, they were well-known in their day
and seem to have sold better than any similar
instruments. Extrapolating known serial numbers, the quantity built is believed to run up
to at least 500 - many other harp guitars were
virtual one-offs. Aside from the expected fretted

orchestras, quite a few
Hawaiian and Vaudeville
groups of the era favored
Knutsens and Dyers for
accompaniment.
While Dyer Brothers ads promoting the Symphony Harps ceased
in 1919, the 1939 Dyer catalog still
listed them, the only change being
new stock numbers. It's doubtful
any were actually made at this late
date - there may have been some
held in stock, or perhaps Dyer would
take the occasional order. The fastmoving music of the jazz age had
essentially rendered harp guitars
obsolete, and even Dyer's superlative
instruments were left to languish in
the shadows of more-modern fretted
developments.
In the meantime, the Larsons
picked up more contract work from
Dyer around 1907, when the Symphony Harp concept extended to
the popular mandolin family with
a line trumpeted in the 1908 catalog
as "Something entirely new!" The
Symphony Harp mandolins, mandolas, and mandocellos were more
conventional in that they did not
have sub-bass strings, but
they did retain the hollow extension above
the neck. While this
does not follow the
harp concept, the
additional chamber
did add resonance
and a mellow roundness to the tone. The
mandolins predictably
were the best sellers,
but all eight-string "Symphony" instruments are
extremely rare; today,
there are only a
couple of extant
mandocellos.
They were
marketed
until t he
late teens,
at le a s t ,
probably in
an attempt
to wean sales
from Gibson.
Made in several
styles, they were
designed primarily

VINTAGE GUITAR

September 2017

(LEFT TO RIGHT) The patent for August
Larson's "Siamese twin" guitar. A fantastic
Larson harp guitar, circa 1901.

to be played in an ensemble context. They
do have a unique sound, but are rare
enough that few players today ever
get to try them.
As mentioned, the Dyer line was
not the Larsons' only foray into the
harp guitar - just the most common.
An unusual harp guitar surfaced
recently that shows distinctive
Larson traits and sheds new light
on the Brothers' early designs. This
fantastic doubleneck, twin-soundhole
instrument appears to carry a date
of 1901 and is built to a very high
level, with ornamentation including
especially elaborate pearl trim, a
tree-of-life upper fingerboard, and
elegantly carved bridge and upper
headpiece. Internally, it reveals an
early use of the laminated bracing
concept in its nascent form, and also
sports a very long 27" scale on the
play neck, alongside extra long subbasses. Whether this was built as a
showpiece or ordered by a customer,
it demonstrates that even at their
early stages as independent
luthiers, the Larsons were
working at the highest
level. This spectacular guitar - heavily
played for many
years - is currently
undergoing a full
restoration as befits
a queen of the harpguitar world.
Similar harp guitars
built by the Larsons known
to exist are probably
custom orders made
to spec in the
years following. Known
e x a mpl e s
show a single round
soundhole and
two conventional
guitar
headstocks
in place of the
c a r ved headpiece, but retain the

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